The Many P's Of Creativity.

Here’s the latest in the centuries-old cannon written about the creative “process”. A bid to understand where ideas come from and how they manifest themselves in our synapses and spurt forth from a pinball-like cranial theatre of free association, experience, personality, environment and a million other lenses we’ve used to make sense of this peculiar -yet incredibly valuable asset, creativity.

Far smarter people than me have written books on the workings of the inner mind, but I want to share my creative process with you after 24 years of having a job that requires you to constantly come up with unique ideas. I, purposefully uncreatively I guess, call it “The Many Ps OF Creativity Or How To Stop Worrying And Learn To Enjoy Your Job”.

1. PANIC

I’m paraphrasing here but Dan Weiden said that every creative person in the world wakes up each morning and thinks, “well, this is the day I get found out”. The day others realise you’re not quite sure what you’re doing. It’s been fun, but the game is up. That’s why he wanted W+K to be a place where creatives can feel at home and not get “found out”. A place where mistakes and wild ideas are welcomed and nurtured.? Which is all well and good but it doesn’t necessarily alleviate that fear that comes from the moment I receive a new brief or we win a new client. The, “oh God, what do we do now?” feeling. The kinda bad news is no matter how experienced you get, it never goes away, the good news is it’s normal and in a weird way galvanises you into action, like waiting in the wings before the curtain goes up for a performance. Don’t feel alone, just deal with the panic in a productive way. Get your mind off things, look at lots of stuff or nothing at all. Meditate, do some exercise or have a beer with friends (preferably ones not in the same industry as you)-whatever you enjoy doing to relax. Dream. Dare. Do is one of our mantras at North and panic is often a weird gateway to enable you to dream.

2. PERCOLATION + 3. PROCRASTINATION

As Steven Wright said, “I’m such a procrastinator, I got a birthmark when I was 8”. Procrastination is a crucial phase of the creative process. Outsiders may see it as procrastination but for the creative mind it is percolation. It is not sitting down staring at a blank piece of paper waiting for some ideas to magically appear. This will lead to more Panic which completely derails the whole carefully laid out creative process described in these vast swathes of advice I have compiled for your reading pleasure. Look at something else, distract your brain as the brief settles into your subconscious, always there but not always front of mind allowing ideas to reverberate around the strange pathways of your brain. Feed it stimulus no matter how seemingly unrelated. This percolation phase has to respect deadlines though. You can’t dawdle and let your brain play PlayStation for three days. Give it 24-48 hours and ALWAYS have a pen on you. Don’t write it on your phone because people will think you’re texting when you should be engaging in conversation at dinner. Writing ideas or semblances of ideas down needs a dedicated notebook, so always have one of those and a good pen like a Pilot Fineliner (Black). They will be constant companions on your journey through this phase. Put the Pro into your procrastination and the perk into your percolation.

4. PARTNERSHIP

Figuring out something on your own is exponentially more daunting. Sharing thoughts with others (not too many) is pivotal. No-one wants a group “brainstorm” (not sure if that term is even still in existence it should be banished along with the adjective “funky” and the term “lifestyle”) Anyway, the bottom line is you need a team with you to tackle the daunting vastness of the blank white page. Not a big team, as mentioned, but a creative partner and perhaps a strategist I find is usually ideal initially. Get to the central idea as quickly as you can. That is our stock in trade as creatives: ideas. That’s where everything hinges and they are always achieved through collaboration.

5.PERFORMANCE

This is where it counts. It’s time to be as nimble as a cornered mongoose. Time to lace up your boots and get stuck in. Now that you have your idea it’s time for everything to flow out of you. These are the hard yards. These are the last minutes of extra time. These are the buzzer beaters. These are the sporting metaphors. Or, as one of my mentors once said, “One last push for the summit!”. The key here is to do one thing at a time, especially for an easily distracted creature like me. I’m like a magpie and the internet is a glittering cave of jewels. It is imperative to clear your decks and focus. Let your personality come through in the work. When you love it, the chances are the client will too.

6. POSITIVITY

We are often in an environment where ideas can get crushed both at inception, through the process or right at the end. It can be easy to get despondent, negative and teenagery (No-one understands me!).

Remember, your presentation is more than likely the highlight of your client’s day. They get to see cool, interesting ideas about their business. The rest of their time -and there are always exceptions- is probably spent on budget forecasts, supply chains and spread sheets, endless meetings and strategic sales seminars or something. This is meant to be exciting for them, so energy and positivity is key to showing them what their brand can do.

I heard something the other day from a designer in LA who said he changed his mindset from “I have to do xyz” to “I get to do xyz”. Quite simply we get to do cool things for brands. We get to amaze people. Don’t forget that.

7. PREPARATION

Creatives, especially the writers, are gabbers. Smart asses. Wise crackers. Class clowns. But often as a direct result of are culturally astute and, as a result, we love improvisation -showing off what we know on the spot. Reacting to a situation in real time. Live and unfiltered. Coming from the one of the papal crown princes of improvising or “winging it” as some call it, let me tell you that there is no future in that. Being prepared is way more fun.

Watching an improvisational sketch comedy troupe gives us some clues. They are given the freedom of a tight brief. “You are a highly strung NY socialite, trying to buy a jet ski from a Floridian stoner” as a rather trite example is a brief for the comedians to improvise around. A tight brief gives us parameters for creativity. As we always say, “give me the creative freedom of a tight brief”. The same is true when preparing your presentation. Have an index, build up to the idea naturally, don’t make it loose. This is a skill I am still perfecting as my mind doesn’t often move in a linear A to B way. Once you have your idea, get the Presentation perfect. There’s nothing more fun than riffing around something you know backwards and forwards.

8. PRESENTATION

Nothing is as divisive as presenting. Some people hate it, some people love it and some have learnt it. Personally, I love it, but only when the Phases above (particularly Preparation) is dialled in. Even if you’re not a confident presenter, knowing the work inside out before presenting is key (as mentioned above). It allows those who don’t like presenting to have a crutch and a reference point and, as mentioned, it allows those who love the spotlight to shine. When you’re excited and confident talking about the work, it's contagious. We’ve had clients applaude before, which I can assure you has not always been a feature of my career, and it's often all down to the Preparation/Presentation double punch.

Gavin Williams is a Creative Director and Partner at North, a Brand Design Consultancy based in Cape Town and Amsterdam.